Page 5

5

EVIE

M y hands shake as I type on my keyboard. A second email was in my inbox this morning when I arrived at work. I've been feeling sick to my stomach ever since. I'm not sure what to do with it because this one is more threatening than the last one, and Lochlan keeps hovering, walking past my desk like he's watching me or something. I don’t know if he saw my screen when I opened it, but I don’t want him knowing what's going on.

As much as I want to think I can handle this myself, I know I can't. This is way outside my comfort zone, and I'm not paid enough to deal with things like this. But my brother’s nonchalance about it has me stopping to consider whether I'm just freaking out over nothing. He said things like this happen all the time, that people in the industry don’t like unions and will push the small dog around to get their way.

It's the reason the workers are even out on the picket line now, because factories and businesses don't value workers' time and efforts. They strike to make their voices be heard, and right now, their voice is loud and clear. I suck in a deep breath and click the email open again to reassure myself that this is nothing more than some empty threat to rattle my father, though the sender doesn’t realize I'm receiving his email right now. They just want him frustrated or scared.

If Da would handle this, I can handle this. I just feel nervous that Lochlan will stick his nose into family business and gather the wrong assumption—that my da really is dirty like him, that he's weak or that the O'Rourke clan can push him around. Da is a smart man, but I worry that a man like Lochlan may gain an advantage over him by manipulating a weakness.

"Everything okay?" Lochlan asks as he makes another pass by my desk, and I nod but scowl at him. I haven't forgotten the way he jerked me off the dancefloor so abruptly that it ruined my night. I may have passed out in Jasper's back seat and woken up in my bed in the middle of the night, but I'm never going to forget how Lochlan treated me like he's my boss.

"I'm fine," I say curtly, smiling professionally at him as he skulks away. He already apologized once, but I am too upset. Yes, he may have saved me from something nefarious that man may have wanted to do—or he may have just interrupted a hot moment that could've quenched the lust I've been trying to douse for days.

Either way, I ended up passed out way too early. Part of me wonders if that bartender slipped something in my drink, but if Lochlan's family owns the club, wouldn't that make him complicit?

"Alright, well if you need anything…" His voice trails off as he walks away, shutting himself into Da's office, and my hand on my mouse maneuvers to open my email client again.

The screen flashes and I see three new emails, one of them from the same strange email address. I glance up at the door, shut with the curtain drawn, and sigh as I feel my chest constricting again. These bastards are relentless, which explains why Da and Jasper are still out there four days later still dealing with picketing and the damn assholes who like to stir up conflict on the picket line.

My eyes rake over the new emails and I choose to read the one I know will be more threats first. The others are just business, things I can handle when my mind is clear. But this one has several attachments, images by the looks of it. I open the email and scan the contents, more threats about paying better attention to whoever this is or there will be "hell to pay."

Then I wait for the virus scanner to finish checking the attachments and start opening them. One by one, the images flash on my screen—a picture of Mum and Da's house, Jasper's car, my apartment. There are stills of Da on the picket line looking angry, one where he has his handgun in his grip staring off into the distance. I can see the picketers behind him and I know he's brought that gun there for protection. Mum hates it, but I understand why he does it.

It makes me shudder in fear, though, to see these images. Why would they take pictures of my family and my home? Why try to push me this far, and for what reason? This doesn’t seem like the run-of-the-mill sort of empty threat Jasper told me happens all the time. This seems more serious.

Looking up at the office door, I wonder if this is over my head, if Lochlan would be the better person to handle these emails. My job is supposed to be simple—responding to member complaints, assigning tasks to new staff, making sure shipments are on time. I just wish I knew if this was going to blow over or if Lochlan would overthink things.

Instead of letting this get outside the family, I choose to call Jasper. I know he and Da are busy, but they did say to call if I had any questions, and rather than worrying our father, I know Jasper will be able to reassure me or help me out.

But his phone rings through several times before going to voicemail. He may have left it in his car, or maybe he's in the middle of something. So I leave a fast voicemail for him to call me when he gets the message and lock my phone, but before I even put it back in my desk drawer, it chimes with an incoming text.

Unknown 10:37 AM: Don't do that…

I pause, scanning the room to see if someone is watching me, but everyone is busy working. No one has even looked up from their computer. Then my phone chimes again.

Unknown 10:38 AM: I'm here, and if you don't do what I ask, I'll make sure everyone knows Draco O'Leary is a criminal. Now, meet me in the parking lot. You have two minutes.

My throat constricts. I blink a few times as I read the message again, but I'm not sure what to do. Whoever this is must've seen me calling Jasper. That was the warning to "not do that”. But why? And where are they?

For a second, I think about not doing what they say. What will happen if I just sit here and pretend I haven't gotten a message at all? What would happen if I tell Lochlan, and he goes out to the parking lot to meet this freak? But what if it has to do with him? What if this is something to do with Lochlan O'Rourke being here at my father's offices running the show? Is that why they're targeting us now? They think Da is dirty because he's friends with an O'Rourke, but my father isn't a criminal.

And I'm not a pushover. I'm going to march my ass right down there and tell them to get lost. My father is a good man, and he's not crooked, and neither is anything about this labor union. If they think they can push me around, they're wrong. I'm not going to be intimidated at all.

I stand, putting my phone on my desk, and walk out the door. I take the first elevator down to the lobby and strut past the workstations to the warehouse. It's dark, and I don't bother turning the light on. I pass through it and into the open air outside the back door, where a man with dark wavy hair, dark sunglasses, and a tailored black suit stands waiting with his hands crossed in front of himself, clutching one wrist.

"Who are you?" I demand, conjuring all my boldness and attitude. It's how I should've behaved on Friday night when Lochlan yanked me off the dance floor. Instead, I draped myself over him and almost threw myself at him. But it feels good to puff my chest out, square my shoulders, and speak to this asshole like he's the annoying gnat of a human that he is.

He chuckles a warm, buttery tone, and I stiffen at the sound. It's almost not human the sound that vibrates up out of him, almost mimicking a predator's growl.

"Well, you're a bit feistier than I thought you'd be." The man peels off his sunglasses and glances up at the camera over the door, broken and dangling from the wire. It hasn’t worked in months, but maybe he already knows it. It's why he asked me to come down here. "I figured Draco's kid would have a nasty attitude like him."

"What are you talking about?" I cross my arms under my tits and take a hesitant step backward. "And why are you here? What do you want from us?" I try not to take this too personally, remembering I am new to this job. Maybe Jasper is right and this shit happens all the time, but it doesn't happen to me all the time. It never happens to me. I'm not going to stand back and let someone annoy or threaten me.

"Oh, honey, it's you I want." He folds the sunglasses casually, slides one earpiece down the front of his white button-down shirt that hangs open in front a bit. Chest hair peeks up out of the gap, and I wonder how old he is. He can't be that much older than Jasper, maybe not even Lochlan's age, but he has a thick mop of hair, dark stubble shading his jawline. "You see, while your father is out trying to keep the peace, I'm here to stir up some trouble. You understand…" His fingers reach out and curl around my cheek, touching me lightly. "Cat's away, mice play… that sort of thing."

I slap his hand away and glare at him, keeping one foot ready to dart back through the open door into the warehouse. He makes my blood boil, but he also scares me. I feel stupid for coming down here alone. Maybe Lochlan is right and I take risks. This was stupid.

"What do you want?" I try to make my voice sound bold, but I'm trembling. He has to see that.

"I want you to give me information. Whatever it is I request of you. And I want it in a timely manner. Do you understand?" I want to back away, but he snatches a handful of hair and locks his fist around it. As I take a step, my head cranes backward, neck arching at a stiff angle that makes me gag.

"Let go of me!" I gasp, turning hard to smack him, but he yanks my head backward harder and brings his hand up.

I think he's going to strike me with his other hand, but he doesn't. Instead he holds his phone up, screen lit up, and on it I see a banking statement. It's got Da's union letterhead, the company account number and several transactions circled, though I can't make them out with my eyes going cross eyed in this position.

"See this, sweetheart? Your Da is a money launderer. I bet ye didn’t know that, did ye?" When he gets hostile, his voice starts to crack, his accent coming out thicker. "And he's been doin’ it a while. And I think you don't want this to get out. Poor Da will end up in the slammer if it does. Wouldn't want that, would we? Who'll take care of Mum?"

I blink hard against the pain and reach up to where he's grabbing my hair and pry his fingers off. "Feck you!" I hiss, trying to straighten my hair a bit, but he smacks me hard and it makes me stumble backward into the wall.

"Now listen to me, Evie-bug…" My blood runs cold. No one uses that name for me except Da, and only inside our home. How would this man know that? "I have more than enough proof to give to the public prosecutor and see that your father never comes home again."

I hold my cheek, squinting into the sunlight, trying not to let the tears burning my eyes fall. "You're a liar. None of that's true." I'm trembling, wondering if I’ve been so naive to have missed something. Da is friends with O'Rourkes, but that doesn't mean he's crooked, does it? This man couldn’t possibly be telling the truth.

"Look into it, sweetheart. You'll see I’m not lying. And when I contact you again, if you even think of calling Jasper, I'll end you on the spot, and I'll pin it on your father. Now do as I say and take this." He thrusts a phone into my hand from his pocket. "It's how I'll contact you. And when I do, don't be a second late. You won't like me when I get angry."

The man turns to go and I shout at him, "Arsehole!"

"That's Darren, honey. Darren Connelly is what you can call me. But don't call me. Until I call you."

Darren walks calmly to a car and slides into the back seat as I scramble back inside the building. My hands are shaking, hair still fucked up. I'm about to piss myself in fear because no matter what Jasper says, this is most definitely not normal for anyone. And when the lights in the warehouse come on and I see Lochlan looming in the doorway on the opposite side of the building, I feel relief flood my system.

Part of me wants to run to his arms and tell him everything, but the threat that man made makes me freeze. If he threatened to kill me and pin it on my father just for telling Jasper, what will he do if I tell Lochlan?

Holy fuck, what is going on?